Written by Krisztián Stark
Key takeaways
- You earn an extra 5% of every payout a publisher you invited receives, for as long as the program runs, and it never reduces their payout.
- Your commission is added after each payout of your referral, then paid with your own earnings under your settlement terms and the $25 minimum.
- Only real, new publishers count: self-referrals, extra accounts and misleading promotion are not allowed and are checked automatically.
How does the Sharklio referral program work?
Every Sharklio publisher gets a personal referral link. When someone creates a new Sharklio account through it and becomes a publisher, they become your referral, and each time they receive a payout from us, you receive an extra 5% of that payout, for as long as the program runs and both accounts stay in good standing. There is no limit on how many publishers you can invite.
Publisher applications open soon, so the program is ready before the first publisher payouts. This guide explains how referrals are recorded, when your commission is added, what you can see in the dashboard, and which kinds of promotion are not allowed. The binding rules are in the Referral Program Terms, which are part of our Terms of Service.
The referral program in five steps
- Get approved as a publisher. Your referral link lives in the Referrals section of the publisher dashboard.
- Share your link with people who run websites, apps, games or communities.
- They sign up for a new Sharklio account through your link and become publishers.
- They earn and receive a payout from their own publisher earnings.
- You receive 5% of that payout on top, added to your publisher balance.
How the 5% commission is calculated
- 5% of every payout your referral receives from their publisher earnings.
- The same rate for everyone. It does not change with the number of referrals or their volume.
- One level only. Commission is calculated on your referral’s own publisher earnings. Referral commission they earn from publishers they invited is not included.
- Paid by Sharklio, not by your referral. Your commission is an extra amount. Your referral receives their full payout.
Illustrative example: how one payout turns into commission
Say a publisher you invited receives a payout of $200 for a month. Your commission is 5% of $200, so $10 is added to your publisher balance after that payout, and the publisher still receives the full $200. If the next month their payout is $60, you get $3. These amounts only show the math. What a publisher earns depends on their own audience, and we do not promise any amount.
When your commission is added and paid
Your commission is added to your publisher balance after each payout your referral successfully receives. From there it is paid to you together with your other earnings, under your own settlement terms: earnings are settled monthly, and the minimum payout is $25, with smaller amounts carrying over to the next month. Publisher earnings, settlement, and reversals explains the cycle.
Because commission follows real payouts, earnings your referral loses before a payout, through rejections, reversals or chargebacks, never earn commission. The other side of that rule protects you: once commission is added to your balance, a later chargeback on your referral’s account does not take it back, unless the referral itself breaks the program rules.
Until a referral’s payout happens, the dashboard shows your cut as pending. Publisher payouts are not live yet, and payout methods will be announced before they open, so the first commissions are added when the first payouts are made.
How referrals are recorded
- When someone opens your link, your code is stored in their browser for 30 days.
- If they create a new account in that browser within those 30 days, by email or with Google or Discord, the account is recorded as your referral.
- If they opened several referral links, the one opened last counts.
- A referral is permanent once the account exists. It cannot be moved to another referrer, and a referrer cannot be added afterwards.
Only new accounts count. An existing Sharklio account, or an extra account of someone who already has one, cannot become a referral. Every Sharklio account has an advertiser side and a publisher side, so people do not need a second account to publish.
Your referral link, code and share buttons
Your link looks like sharklio.com/r/yourcode. A code is created for you from your username, and you can change it under Change your code as often as you like, using 3 to 20 letters, numbers or underscores. Links with your earlier codes keep pointing to you, so a code change never breaks a link you already posted. Codes that imitate Sharklio, our staff, or another person or brand are reserved or may be replaced.
Next to the link are share buttons for X, Telegram, WhatsApp, Facebook, LinkedIn and Discord, plus a Copy text button. Each one uses a short post written for that platform. Facebook, LinkedIn and Discord copy the post to your clipboard, so you only have to paste it. When your link is shared in apps that show link previews, it appears as an invitation card.
What you can see about your referrals
The Referrals page shows a chart of your cut and your new referrals by day, and four figures: your referral earnings with the amount still pending, the number of referred publishers, how many were active in the last 30 days, and your commission rate. Below that is a list of your referrals, which you can search by username and sort by newest, most earned or recently earned.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Publisher | The username of your referral |
| Joined | The date they signed up with your link |
| Status | Signed up, Active, Inactive, Under review, or Closed |
| Last earned | When they last had a confirmed result |
| Their earnings | Their confirmed publisher earnings |
| Your cut | Your 5% of those earnings, pending until their payout |
You may use this information only to follow your commission. Do not share it, and do not use it to contact or identify your referrals outside Sharklio.
What is not allowed
| Not allowed | Examples |
|---|---|
| Fake or self-referrals | Referring yourself or accounts you control, creating or buying accounts, using someone else’s details, or asking people to sign up only so you earn commission |
| Technical manipulation | Bots, scripts, click farms, or VPNs and proxies used to create referrals, and exploiting errors in the program |
| Misleading promotion | Spam, unsolicited messages, false or exaggerated earning claims, or posing as Sharklio or its staff |
| Brand misuse | Paid search ads on terms that contain “Sharklio”, and domains or social accounts that could be mistaken for ours |
| Unsuitable places | Sites or channels that break our Terms of Service or the rules of the platform you post on |
Every referral is checked automatically. A sign-up from the same device as the referrer is not counted. A sign-up from the same IP address as the referrer is reviewed by our team before it can earn commission, and shows as Under review in your list. We also look for unusual sign-up patterns, accounts that are created and never used, and networks of linked accounts. Depending on how serious a breach is, we may warn you, hold your commission and pause your participation for up to 30 days while we review it, cancel the affected referrals and their commission, including commission already added, or suspend your account.
How to promote your link honestly
The referrals that last are publishers with a real audience, because they keep earning and receiving payouts. Aim your link at people who actually run a website, app, game or community, and tell them what the offerwall is: a page where their users complete tasks and offers from advertisers, get rewarded in the publisher’s own currency, and the publisher earns for every completion. How the Sharklio offerwall works is a good page to send along.
- Write about your own experience, for example in a guide on your blog or in a community for site owners where sharing tools is welcome.
- Never promise an income. What a publisher earns depends on their traffic, countries and placement.
- Say it is a referral link. People trust a recommendation more when they know how it works.
Taxes and program changes
Commission is income, and you are responsible for reporting it and for any taxes where you live. We may change, pause or end the program. We give at least 30 days’ notice of a change that reduces your commission, and your 5% rate stays in place for referrals you made before such a change for as long as the program runs. If the program ends, commission on payouts made before the end date is still paid.
Get ready to invite publishers
Publisher applications open soon, and your referral link appears in the Referrals section as soon as your publisher side is approved. Prepare your property now with Get your publisher account approved, and read How much can an offerwall earn? to understand what drives publisher earnings before you explain it to others.
Frequently asked questions
How much do I earn from a Sharklio referral?
5% of every payout the publisher you invited receives from their publisher earnings, for as long as the program runs and both accounts stay in good standing. The amount depends entirely on what they earn.
Does my commission reduce my referral’s earnings?
No. Your commission is an extra amount paid by Sharklio. Your referral receives their full payout.
When is referral commission added to my balance?
After each payout your referral successfully receives. It is then paid to you with your other earnings, under your settlement terms and the $25 minimum payout.
Can I refer my own second account?
No. Self-referrals and extra accounts are not allowed, sign-ups from the referrer’s device are not counted, and each business may hold only one Sharklio account unless we agree otherwise in writing.
Can I change my referral code?
Yes, as often as you like, using 3 to 20 letters, numbers or underscores. Links with your earlier codes keep working.
Do I earn on the referrals of my referrals?
No. The program has one level. Commission is calculated only on the publisher earnings of the people you invited yourself.
